Bournemouth play host to Aston Villa in the EFL Cup fourth round on Wednesday evening, with the pair having toppled the two Manchester clubs over the weekend.

The Cherries and Villans now sit in 13th and ninth position in the Premier League table respectively.

Match preview

When Bournemouth lost 5-1 at Chelsea after the international break, Marco Rose may have started to have concerns over how the squad could cope with the continued absences of Alex Scott and Junior Kroupi.

Fast-forward 15 days, the south-coast outfit have four wins in a row to their name, the most recent coming by a 3-0 scoreline at Manchester United.

Such was the Cherries' dominance at Old Trafford that they could have prevailed by a wider margin, yet Rose would have been more than satisfied with his team building on the previous top-flight victory over Sunderland to kick-start their campaign.

As well as Bournemouth moving to within two points of sixth place in a congested Premier League table, they also have wins over Sturm Graz and AC Milan in the Europa League to their name.

Aside from the defeats to Liverpool and Chelsea, Bournemouth are unbeaten in the other nine games in all competitions (W6 D3).

Meanwhile, Villa make the trip to the South coast having recorded six wins and one draw from their last seven matches.

That run started with a 3-1 triumph at Coventry City in this competition, while their latest success was the deserved 2-1 success over Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.

Although just two clean sheets have been posted, Villa have netted 20 goals during that period, and Emery will be optimistic that their ratio in the final third can continue.

This is just the 18th competitive meeting between these clubs. Villa are unbeaten in the last seven, while they have put together a three-match unbeaten streak (W2 D1) at the Vitality Stadium while conceding just the one goal.

Bournemouth EFL Cup form:

Bournemouth form (all competitions):

Aston Villa EFL Cup form:

Aston Villa form (all competitions):

Team News

Rose will rotate his Bournemouth XI, with the likes of Michele Di Gregorio, Bafode Diakite, Julio Soler, Ryan Christie, Ben Gannon-Doak, David Brooks, Amine Adli and Alvaro Rodriguez all in line for starting opportunities.

However, with Junior Kroupi making his comeback from a long-term injury on Sunday, last season's top goalscorer will likely start on the substitutes' bench.

Adam Smith, James Hill and Lewis Cook could be the trio to keep their places in the team.

Emery will also make widespread changes to his Aston Villa team, although Pau Torres could keep his place to allow rests for Matty Cash and Victor Lindelof. Ian Maatsen may also start among the replacements after his recent return from injury.

Lamare Bogarde could be used at right-back, Leon Goretzka may make his first Villa start, while Brian Madjo could start down the middle of the attack.

Alejandro Garnacho and Tammy Abraham are in line for places on the bench.

Bournemouth possible starting lineup:

Di Gregorio; Smith, Hill, Diakite, Soler; Cook, Christie; Gannon-Doak, Brooks, Adli; Rodriguez

Aston Villa possible starting lineup:

Bizot; Bogarde, Harwood-Bellis, Torres, Mings; Barkley, Goretzka; Mbaye, Buendia, Hemmings; Madjo

We say: Bournemouth 2-3 Aston Villa

With heavy squad rotation expected, this is a difficult match to predict. However, if both teams go on the offensive, that could suit an Aston Villa outfit with superior squad depth, leaving us to back the visitors to come through in a five-goal thriller.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.